September 24, 2012

Toddlers Toddle, Sometimes Fall, While Sippy Cups, Bottles, Pacifiers

How long does med school take? 14 years? And because you accumulated a million dollars in student loans, and Obamacare's already cutting into your fat margins, you find yourself panic trolling for Yahoo, slapping ridiculous SEO headlines on content farm-level advice:

Can Sippy Cups and Bottles Be Dangerous?

Possibly, but don't go crazy.

...

On May 14, 2012, [September now, so four-plus months ago, I have 25 draft posts and 61 browser tabs open right now, you have no idea] the online edition of Pediatrics [which I do not link to because too many tabs] published the findings of a study that looked at injuries related to the use of Sippy cups, pacifiers, and baby bottles. Because the media love to cause a sensation [damn media!], I can imagine that the newspapers and talk shows might have fun with this over the weeks ahead. [Or the weeks that followed, past tense, but I will not bother to actually look up any facts of said fun, because I have to write twelve of these suckers a day, so imagining will have to suffice.]

The study of 20 years of ER data found that 86% of the 2,200 under-3yo's admitted to ERs for sippy cup, pacifier, or bottle-related injuries each year involved falling while using a sippy cup, pacifier, or bottle.

UPDATE: I've got it. Seth's comment below made it clear: toddlers fall. There's no way around that. So we just need to protect them from all possible harm when they do. Kids need a Thudgard for their mouth. A little something like this, but for 1-2yos. Which, oddly, I can't even find a Photoshopped image of. I'll get right on it.

4 Comments

A high percentage of ER injuries related to a given activity involved falling while doing that activity? Is that a surprise? While I kind of understand this finding, I think that falling is probably a common denominator underlying many ________-related injuries. If only we could keep those toddlers from falling...

Also, we're talking about roughly 90 injuries a year here. A bigger public concern than out-of-control mohels but probably a lot less than whatever it is we should actually be worrying about.